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Nielsen Diary Markets 12+ Trends November 2024 6 am-midnight

BMM Staff
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Nielsen Diary Markets 12+ Trends November 2024 6 am-midnight

You can dive deeper into each market on Barrett Media’s ratings page. Powered by Harker Bos Group.

#94 Chattanooga

Country and Classic Rock set the pace for the market.

Classic Rock WSKZ leads despite losing a share, continuing a three-month slide. 14.7-14.1-11.7-10.7

Country WUSY 9.1-10.6

AC WDEF 9.7-8.9

#100 Huntsville

Country WDRM loses a share but remains in the lead. 9.7-8.7

Top 40 WZYP 6.5-6.6

Classic Rock WTAK continues a four-month upward trend 3.9-5.9-6.1-6.2

Urban WHRP grows 3.4-4.3

You can dive deeper into each market on Barrett Media’s ratings page. Powered by Harker Bos Group.

Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.

George Stephanopoulos Inks Extension With ABC News

BNM Staff
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George Stephanopoulos Inks Extension With ABC News

George Stephanopoulos has signed a new contract with ABC News, keeping him with his longtime news outlet for several more years.

The 63-year-old will remain as a host of Good Morning America, as well as his Sunday political affairs show This Week with George Stephanopoulos as part of his news contract.

After joining ABC News as a political analyst, Stephanopoulos served as a correspondent for This Week before becoming host of the program in 2002. He was later elevated to Chief Washington Correspondent in 2005. He added regular duties on Good Morning America in 2009, replacing Diane Sawyer who moved to the anchor desk of World News Tonight.

The news comes on the heels of ABC News settling a defamation lawsuit from President-elect Donald Trump geared toward the outlet and host. In March, George Stephanopoulos stated that Trump had been found civilly liable for rape in the case with writer E. Jean Carroll. Attorneys for Trump sued the network and host, with Disney settling the case for $15 million and legal fees.

A contract extension for Stephanopoulos will likely quell any questions about the host’s future with the outlet. Previous reporting shared that he was “furious” behind the scenes that the company settled the case, alleging that settlement makes it appear as if he had done something wrong or acted with malice in his comments.

The news of Stephanopoulos’ contract extension was first reported by Stephen Battaglio of The Los Angeles Times.

Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.

CNN Political Analyst Gloria Borger to Depart

BNM Staff
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CNN Political Analyst Gloria Borger to Depart

Longtime CNN political analyst Gloria Borger has announced she will exit the cable news channel at the end of the year.

Borger has previously been a prominent figure in the network’s election coverage. She also was a regular guest on shows like The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper 360 during her tenure.

Gloria Borger has been at CNN since 2007. She was also the network’s Chief Political Analyst, hosting the documentary on Joe Biden’s ascent to the White House in 2021.

Before joining the network, Borger worked as a national political correspondent at CBS News and contributed to Face the Nation and 60 Minutes II. Additionally, she was co-anchor of Capital Report on CNBC before her stops at CBS and CNN.

Borger becomes the latest longtime employee to announce their departure from the cable news outlet. Earlier this month, anchor Alisyn Camerota shared that it was her final day with CNN after 10 years with the company.

CEO Mark Thompson has previously stated the company will undergo a strategy shift to focus on more digital efforts with a smaller budget than the network has operated with in the past.

Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.

Barrett Media to Run Lighter Schedule During the Holidays

Jason Barrett
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Barrett Media to Run Lighter Schedule During the Holidays

The phone never stops buzzing, and the emails pour in rapidly. People and brands have news to share, and stories to tell, and expect us to be on it. Covering the media industry is a constant grind, and though I and my crew enjoy it, there are times where breaks are needed. Thankfully, they come during a time when many across the industry do the same.

Starting on Christmas Eve and continuing through Friday January 3rd, Barrett Media will be in holiday mode. This means we’ll deliver one (1) daily newsletter (the holiday edition), each day at Noon ET. Content for the next two weeks will also be lighter as we give our editors time off, half-day work schedules, and allow our part-time contributors to take a break to gear up for 2025.

Columns and features will still be created by myself, Dave Greene, Garrett Searight, Derek Futterman, and Jeff Lynn. We’ll also have the important daily news stories you’ve come to expect from us. For instance, you can expect that we’ll have something up on 12/26 regarding Netflix’s entry into broadcasting the NFL. However, the pace of our production will decrease for two weeks.

Despite daily content slowing down, things won’t get easier for yours truly. I’ll spend the holiday weeks working on a year-in-review column, adding more speakers/sessions to the BSM Summit (tickets are on-sale thru 12/31 for $249.99), and collaborating with Dylan Barrett to produce the BNM Top 20 of 2024 and the BMM Top 20 of 2024. The BNM series drops January 6-10 and 13. BMM’s series debuts January 20-24 and 27-29.

We Are Hiring

With a new year approaching, one project that I have to dive into is hiring. It’s a never ending process when you run an independent operation. The good news is that a lot of people are interested in working for us and we have opportunities available. Finding the right fit however can be difficult in the B2B publishing space.

Before I add to our team, I try to make sure candidates know and understand me, our brand, my approach, and the business. I don’t always get it right but we’ve featured a pretty good group throughout the years. Being driven to write/create, work in a team environment, and appreciating what we do and those across the industry doing it are important. We have a team of self-starters who enjoy their work, and embrace an all hands on deck mentality. Anyone coming on board has to fit into the culture or it won’t last.

Entering 2025, I’m looking to hire a Site Editor/Manager, Music Radio Writer/Reporter, and Social Media Coordinator.

The Site Manager/Editor will be well versed in sports/news media, and music radio. This person will oversee all three areas of our online operation. They’ll work closely with me on the daily content strategy to grow traffic, influence, audio/video content, and strengthen our events and partner relationships. The Music Radio Writer/Reporter will write daily news, edit content, and interview people for future stories. Lastly, the Social Media Coordinator will create/schedule posts, analyze data and trends, and tackle other digital needs as they arise.

Secondly, if you’re not based in the USA or haven’t worked in the media industry, I’m not going to call. It’s hard to get access to people, events, and key information if you don’t know the issues and haven’t lived this life. I’m looking for folks who have knowledge and passion for the industry, are connected across it, and can dive right in. I’m a very driven individual who expects to grow, and won’t slow down. If we’re not in this to make an impact then what’s the point?

There are people in the media business who love it but are sad over revenue losses and/or co-workers exiting. Others are on the outside looking in and miss the fun, but the unstable nature of the business has them questioning whether or not to return. What we do keeps you connected to the industry but in a different way. It’s a lot of fun. However, it only works if you enjoy working remotely, have a passion to write, and wake up each day ready to talk to people and create content.

If that sounds like you, send me a note with your resume and work samples at Jason@BarrettMedia.com.

‘NFL Fantasy Live’ on NFL Network Is Heavy on Information, Trust and Fun

John Molori
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‘NFL Fantasy Live’ on NFL Network Is Heavy on Information, Trust and Fun

As NFL fantasy football season dives headlong into the playoffs, there are a plethora of programs out there for fantasy footballers. Some are heavy on stats, others on analysis, still more feature experts giving you their roster breakdowns to like, dislike, consider, or ignore.

One of the more intriguing fantasy football programs is NFL Fantasy Live on NFL Network. It takes a different approach to fantasy football. While ESPN’s Fantasy Football Now is more stat heavy and traditional, NFL Fantasy Live takes a lighter approach. Don’t get me wrong, the program still provides all of the trends, tendencies, and numbers, but in a more casual and relaxed atmosphere. 

It’s actually very similar to the split between ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown and NFL Network’s NFL GameDay programming. There is much more of an emphasis on personality and humor with the NFL Network shows.

The December 17 edition of NFL Fantasy Live featured regulars Patrick Claybon, Marcas Grant, and Adam Rank. The participants are all attired in casual clothing and sneakers in a sort of living room/den atmosphere with leather chairs. I like the way the group opened the show with by lamenting their personal fantasy failures of last week. Those who partake in fantasy football can surely relate.

Grant said that he regretted playing Cooper Kupp this past week as I’m sure a lot of fantasy GM’s did as Kupp was a complete fantasy failure. NFL Fantasy Live offers a What We Learned segment looking back on the previous week’s action. This show mentioned Minnesota wide receiver Justin Jefferson, Bears wide receivers in general, RB Ameer Abdullah of the Raiders, and Kirk Cousins and Bijan Robinson of the Falcons. It was a good back-and-forth segment focusing on the positives and negatives of selecting certain players for your fantasy team.

The Ones segment of the show predicted who will be the top fantasy players for the upcoming Week 16 of the NFL season, and another round of playoffs for many fantasy leagues. Grant is excellent. He provides that middle ground between Claybon’s straight laced hosting and Rank’s utter lunacy. On this show, Grant spotlighted Tampa Bay’s Baker Mayfield as a player to watch for Week 16. Rank pointed to Eagles’ Quarterback Jalen Hurts as a QB1 for this week’s fantasy rosters, while Claybon chose James Conner of Arizona as an RB1. Ja’Marr Chase, Mike Evans, and Josh Jacobs were also mentioned.

NFL Fantasy Live mixes things up with a lot of video clips and, on this particular episode, an interview with NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero. Injuries are a huge part of both NFL and fantasy football, and Pelissero provided an update on Chiefs’ quarterback Patrick Mahomes, a QB1 on many fantasy teams. He stated that Mahomes did practice on Tuesday, but Andy Reid has full confidence in Carson Wentz if Mahomes cannot play this weekend.

All types of news affects fantasy football – from injuries to off the field issues to coaching situations, weather, and specific game plans. Detroit RB David Montgomery is now out for the season which means if you have Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs on your fantasy team, you’re probably looking at more carries and the potential for more points.

NFL Fantasy Live is all about humor with campy segments aplenty. The Panic or Patience segment looked at Cooper Kupp, C.J. Stroud, Deebo Samuel, Sr., and Alvin Kamara. When a  host hits the panic button, the whole studio shakes with an earthquake visual effect. Rank had a good take on Saquon Barkley’s subpar fantasy performance last week saying that regular season stats don’t matter now. It’s all about what you do in the fantasy playoffs.

Rank is unquestionably the lightning bolt for NFL Fantasy Live. He is the fantasy version of Good Morning Football’s eclectic and eloquent Kyle Brandt. Rank is outrageous and outstanding, a fantasy geek and a fantasy god, equal parts informative and insane. His wacky, over-the-top, and, at times, hilarious takes on all things fantasy football bring spark and shine to the program.

On this episode, Rank did a standup Waiver Wire Hot Sauce Advent Calendar for fantasy football. Just the premise of an advent calendar for fantasy is funny in itself. Rank’s analysis included references to his personal life, pop culture, and even Christmas songs. The segment was not just amusing, however. It mentioned some dark horse fantasy players to try including Jerome Ford, Tyjae Spears, and Brenton Strange.

On many fantasy football shows, defense and special teams are often overlooked, but those positions can make or break a playoff team. NFL Fantasy Live looked at the top prospects for defense/special teams for the upcoming week. Grant made the telling point that you don’t have to be a great overall defense to be a great fantasy defense, you just have to get sacks and turnovers.

As host of the proceedings, Claybon does a nice job of moving the show along while promoting upcoming NFL Network programming and initiatives. Meanwhile, Grant and Rank form a nice duo in several segments on the program.

One of those segments is called Higher or Lower. Grant and Rank assign a certain fantasy point total to a player, then analyze whether that player will exceed or fall short of that point total. It is actually a helpful tool for fantasy football players to listen to two guys who know what they are talking about. This particular segment focused on quarterbacks Mayfield and Jordan Love as well as running backs Rico Dowdle and James Cook.

Fast paced production values are a huge part of NFL Fantasy Live, from lightning bolts to quick edits to statistical blurbs and hardcore fantasy facts. One of the strengths of the program is that as the personalities talk about a particular player, there is a lower third graphic with the player’s name, his opponent for the upcoming week, and key statistics.

The normally staid Claybon comes out of his shell with his fantasy forecast, offering roster advice with comical costumes and backdrops including an aquarium, beach, a roaring fire, and outer space. I like the comedic aspect of NFL Fantasy Live because it comes rather naturally and is not forced. Plus, this is fantasy football, an appropriate venue for mixing in some slapstick with the stats. Humor has been a huge part of Rank’s repertoire for years, but he is adept at balancing the jokes with information that fantasy GM’s need.

Costumes and comedy are fine, but hardcore fantasy footballers watch these programs to get information, score points, win titles and, in many cases, earn money. NFL Fantasy Live brings the heat with a triumvirate of stars who play fantasy football and pass along unbridled real talk to viewers.

With a combination of the stats, analysis, and trends, Grant, Claybon, and Rank offer opinions and projections, but of course, it comes down to trust. Fantasy stats are pretty much the same from show to show. The challenge is figuring out which personalities and opinions to trust. If that is the test, I would definitely choose NFL Fantasy Live in round one of any fantasy draft.

Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.

Promo Meeting: Ideas, Concepts And Thought Starters For Music Radio

Jeff Lynn
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Promo Meeting: Ideas, Concepts And Thought Starters For Music Radio

For decades, Beasley’s KKLZ Las Vegas has presented the “Jingle Bell Rock.” Somewhere in the Las Vegas valley, the station has hidden the rock, a 20×15 flat slate that weighs around 25 pounds. It looks normal on one side, and on the other are the directions to claim the $10,000 prize.

Listeners get clues on air five times daily. This is a great example of setting appointments and getting another listening occasion.

Another way to execute something similar is virtual. When I worked at the legendary News/Talk WHO Des, Moines, then morning show, Van and Bonnie would virtually hide a prize somewhere in the metro. It’s the same thing; people just don’t have to search the city.

Both make for great promotions.

iHeartMedia’s Lite 106.7 WLTW is hosting a Virtual Toy Drive. On the station website, a page gives you a click-to-donate page that redirects to Amazon and a wish list for three local Children’s hospitals.

This one is easy to execute, and with the proper associated promos, sponsored of course, it becomes turnkey year after year.

If you ever watch WWE, you know that the fans love to get attention by making signs to taunt the heel or cheer on the babyface.

Encourage listeners to creatively display your station’s call letter or slogan at a concert. I’ve seen some creative, not always PG-rated, ways the listeners tried to get the station’s attention.

Pick the best or most creative and upgrade their seats to the front row.

My Promotion Director, the late Ken Kohls, brought this to me when we launched 97.3 The Brew in Milwaukee. Kohls had a way of doing things that got under the competition’s skin.

When your competition has its Christmas Show or any other exclusive event, rent one of those mobile sign boards that you see that are typically used to announce, “This ramp will be closed Monday at 7:30.”

He called the city, paid for, and reserved a street parking spot right in front of the competitors’ event, with a sign that read “97.3 The Brew welcomes you to the show.”

Brilliant.

Let Barrett Media showcase you best. Email me here, jeff@barrettmedia.com

Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.

Will Radio Become Irrelevant If It Doesn’t Embrace AI?

Robby Bridges
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Will Radio Become Irrelevant If It Doesn’t Embrace AI?

About two weeks to go, and I assumed that Bob Pittman’s infamous quote, “There’s not a spot for everyone,” would be the line that reflected the too often foul mood of particularly corporate radio in 2024. Then this week along comes Futuri’s CEO Daniel Anstandig with this one “(radio) embrace AI’s transformative potential or risk becoming irrelevant in a rapidly advancing media landscape.”

Stop the press! Just when I thought I was ready to react to that, I got a newsflash as Baltimore icon Laurie DeYoung announced iHeart is ending her show just short of its 40th anniversary as part of their ongoing cuts, allowing her a last regular show with days’ notice days before Christmas. Yes, Ms. DeYoung is receiving the grace of a public statement and final show (at a time of low risk for the company), and she says she’ll do a weekend show and events in 2025.

Could there be anything as indicative of the genocide of the radio industry by corporate radio as forcing the end of a show like the one DeYoung had hosted on WPOC (still a top station particularly Women 25-54)? If the financials are really poor, you sell the station van, cut the marketing budget, hustle the sales team, and even resort to cutting part-time hours, but you don’t abruptly kill a generationally popular content creator who is part of the fabric of the Baltimore market as crab cakes and expect some syndicated BS will do. They won’t be gone today or tomorrow, but in 8-12 months? You’ve tried to improve the quarter by killing the future.

But back to Daniel Anstandig. He wrote a piece on the importance of AI, how inconceivable it is that radio hasn’t fully embraced it as of yet, and how we aren’t all doing that very business with him.

Dan sanctioned his very own research study to create talking points, saying, “Most listeners already think radio is using AI. One out of five radio listeners said in our study that they already listen to a station that uses AI. And three out of four said that AI would improve the DJ content, music, weather, and service elements. I believe the audience generally considers the use of AI to be forward thinking”.

Wow! Dan got regular terrestrial radio users together, and they said, “the company that offers AI to radio, we must tell you, AI would improve the content on the radio.” That is world-class self-gratification.

Anstandig adds, “The best way to use AI? To create live and local content. A computer algorithm is not a living, breathing entity, so no, it’s not life, and it functions through the internet. It’s not local. But it’s here to help that big staff of DJs be live and local, NOT take jobs and duties away.”

No of course not!

Back to his study, “74% of respondents expressed comfort with AI voices in sports programming and 80% approving of their use in commercials.” Again, this is absurd. No focus group would ever be specific like that without receiving very directed, and leading questions. He ended by adding, “What is our industry going to do? Embrace AI to create a more dynamic and engaging experience. Or stand by and watch as audiences gravitate toward platforms that have more frequent and timely local content?”

Maybe our industry should take a hard look at how it operates and what matters financially to the product. There is a long list of professionals who are very much capable of not only creating timely local content but innovative content. They are people who can engage directly with others.

Dan stresses again, “Embrace AI’s transformative potential or risk becoming irrelevant in a rapidly advancing media landscape!”

Ok, Bob Pittman is off the hook for the most self-serving comment in radio for 2024. Happy holidays! Here’s to a prosperous new year that sees more local owner-operators and content creators embraced and rewarded for their talent and efforts. I’ll be here fighting the good fight with you.

Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.

TikTok Ban Isn’t About Free Speech, It’s About Ending Media Warfare

Krystina Alarcon Carroll
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TikTok Ban Isn’t About Free Speech, It’s About Ending Media Warfare

Freedom of speech is dead. In fact, freedom of speech is limited almost everywhere. You can’t say George Carlin’s “Seven Dirty Words” on TV (or radio). That is freedom of speech. Most websites have user terms of service which limit what you can say. That is infringing on your freedom of speech. Social media sites are notorious for limiting posts that “others might find harmful.” This is your freedom of speech out the window. Online outlets also can limit who sees your post. This is silencing your speech. 

TikTok claims banning them is infringing on freedom of speech, yet they fail to recognize they already limit this very statute. They are not alone in this. Facebook won’t let you call the October 7th terrorist attacks in Israel a “massacre”. Sites like YouTube, X, Bluesky, Pintrest, and Reddit all have “code of conduct” agreements for users, which most of us have not read. However, if you read those “terms and agreements”, you’ll soon see how you are limited. TikTok is no different your speech is limited in some way shape or form.  

Armed with this in mind, the TikTok ban is actually about control of algorithms. The company claims the legislation passed by the United States is infringing on users’ freedom of speech. This is wrong. TikTok users don’t have freedom of speech. Their own terms and agreements say they have the right to ban you if you post, “material that, in the sole judgment of TikTok, is objectionable or which restricts or inhibits any other person from using the Services, or which may expose TikTok, the Services or its users to any harm or liability of any type.”

Meaning they determine if you are free to say “China Sucks” on TikTok. (Full disclosure I don’t Tik or Tok, but friends on the left and right say they have never seen an anti-China post.)


Social media algorithms are not speech. They are manipulative tools being used to keep you scrolling and addicted to your phone/apps. ByteDance’s claims its freedom of speech is being infringed upon by banning TikTok has clearly never had a post censored on social media or followed any other country’s social media regulations before. Just like any other business that operates in the United States, you must follow our country’s “terms and services” agreement. Don’t pay taxes? You go to jail. Caught insider trading? You go to jail (except if you are in Congress). Have you exploited your customers? You pay a fine, go to jail, or both. 

To put it simply, algorithms exploit their users. There is no freedom with algorithms (this goes across all social media). The internet and algorithms do not set you free. They are being used to label you and put you into a state of doom/zombie scrolling. These algorithms can be and have been manipulated by the left, right, and bad actors across the world. 

The two truest quotes from Revenge of the Nerds are: “Those nerds are a threat to our way of life” and “No one is really going to be free until nerd persecution ends.” I say this being a full-fledged nerd who loves Star Wars, comic books, and Magic the Gathering. However, I have no ill intentions in mind for the internet, others do. 

The nerds who are controlling algorithms are controlling the narrative. With TikTok, those nerds who are making algorithms have the Chinese Communist Party in mind. Sure the outlet may not be owned by China (technically) but we are seeing the direct effects of allowing TikTok into our world with Gen Z. 

Yes, TikTok needs to be banned. This is not a freedom of speech issue, as your speech on all social media platforms is limited in some way, shape, or form. This is an issue of allowing our foreign adversaries to manipulate what we see. With their flaws Facebook, X, and Bluesky were all made in America by Americans. We may not always agree politically, but no other country has come close to being able to connect people (or filter bubble them) like we do, until TikTok. 

Banning TikTok would, pure and simple, end the online power struggle the United States is facing. Today’s battlegrounds are becoming more of a theater of the mind and less of a theater of the physical world. Banning TikTok is not a freedom of speech issue. It would end the mental battleground we currently find ourselves in. 

Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.

The Watch: The Five on Fox News

Garrett Searight
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The Watch: The Five on Fox News

Time and time again, The Five from Fox News has been the most-watched cable news show. Month after month, the ensemble program beats shows hosted by network staples like Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, and Bret Baier, in addition to challengers at networks like CNN, MSNBC, and Newsmax.

So what is it about The Five that sets it apart from the rest? Well, I attempted to find out by watching the Tuesday, December 17th episode.

On this edition of the show, the cast included Jeanine Pirro, Dana Perino, Jesse Watters, Brian Kilmeade, and resident liberal Harold Ford Jr.. That’s something the show has always done — welcome a liberal perspective, whether it be Ford or Jessica Tarlov, or in the past someone like Geraldo Rivera, Bob Beckel, or Juan Williams.

The show, which features five co-hosts at 5 PM ET — hence the name — allows each panelist to helm a segment. Initial expectations, in my opinion, are that you expect chaos. Five opinionated people in a studio opining on the top stories of the day should — in theory — lead to an oftentimes unruly set. But that never came.

In fact, as Pirro helmed the first segment on Tuesday, it took more than 10 minutes for one panelist to talk when it wasn’t their “turn” to speak. It is a highly regulated environment, which sort of flies in the face of what many other cable news programs feature today, especially CNN’s NewsNight, hosted by Abby Phillip which I wrote about extensively earlier this month.

The contrast between the two shows was stark. While at times I found CNN’s program to be dysfunctional, the Fox News show was insanely structured. Each person knew their role in each individual segment and rarely stepped outside of it.

Is there an obvious conservative slant — to the point of being a detriment unless you’re firmly entrenched in the MAGA movement? It’s Fox News, isn’t it? But Ford Jr. is more agreeable than Tarlov, so this episode wasn’t filled with the sometime contentious, sometimes explosive arguments that can transpire on the show. However, I couldn’t help but notice the only time Pirro cut off a fellow panelist was when Ford Jr. was speaking. But the moments weren’t controversial. This is a good thing because the light-hearted nature of the show is its biggest selling point.

For instance, during the segment hosted by Kilmeade, he messed up. He went to ask Pirro a question before recognizing that he needed to continue his monologue after playing a clip of Kamala Harris. She said “What?” when he began speaking to her, to which he replied “‘What?’ We’re doing the show,” with a smile. He then realized why she responded the way she did. “Oh. I’m gonna continue,” he said as he looked at the camera, noticing he had more script to read. Everyone had a laugh, and moved on, after Kilmeade said “please pay attention” while holding back a chuckle.

It’s moments like those that make me see what viewers enjoy about the show. While it’s five different voices, and often rotating voices, there’s a familiarity there between the panelists that exudes chemistry. Do they agree on everything? Not hardly. But the respect shown to one another jumps off the screen. There aren’t competing egos for airtime or someone looking to get a quip in for a viral moment.

So, essentially, it’s a cable news unicorn. It’s attempting to do the exact opposite of what every other cable news show looks to accomplish. The show is calm and opinionated, and one could even argue at times it’s borderline boring. But that’s a good thing. Because good television doesn’t have to always be based on conflict. I don’t know how entertaining or compelling the show was as much as it was refreshing. A cable news palate cleanser, if you will.

Ultimately, I can see why hardcore Fox News viewers can find The Five enjoyable. It is a light-hearted approach to the day’s news, without taking itself too seriously. It’s a model that other programs could find as a blueprint for higher ratings.

Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.

Week 15 NFL Late Window Draws Nearly 40 Million Viewers

BSM Staff
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Week 15 NFL Late Window Draws Nearly 40 Million Viewers

The NFL must be pleased with its latest viewership totals, as the Week 15 late window amassed a monumental amount of viewers — even by its standards. According to Front Office Sports, nearly 40 million football fans tuned in to either CBS or FOX during the 4:25 PM EST window to watch either the Buffalo Bills take on the Detroit Lions or the Pittsburgh Steelers face the Philadelphia Eagles.

The CBS broadcast of Bills/Lions averaged 23.3 million viewers, while FOX’s Steelers/Eagles broadcast drew 16.4 million, although the former game lasted about a half-hour longer than the latter thanks in part to Philly’s long final drive.

FOS reports that this is just the second time since the 1970 merger in which two separate games each featured teams playing each other with ten wins by Week 15 or sooner. 

NFL ratings have been soaring over the past two seasons, and this year is no different. NFL games accounted for the top 16 most-watched programs throughout October, even in a month which included the World Series, proving that nothing will stop the NFL in its march towards broadcasting supremacy. 

Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.

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